Just Breathe
by Jewelbox1322
Summary: An old friend of Kristin's tags Darwin to get to her. First Season.
1. Chapter 1

**Just Breathe**

 **by Jewelbox1322**

 **This takes place within the First Season. My muse just kicked into high gear with this story. Please read and review when you get a chance. Feedback helps me improve and keeps me motivated to continue updating. Thanks and I hope you enjoy the story!**

 **Disclaimer: I did not create the SeaQuest DSV series nor do I own its characters. They are the product of Rockne S. O'Bannon and Amblin Entertainment. I write fanfiction purely for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 1**

At 08:30 in the morning, the activity on SeaDeck was not as busy as usual, with a few scientists looking at samples of algae and coral. Kristin Westphalen sat at her stool and carefully examined the cell sample in her microscope as she sipped some coffee. She had a rough night, but was hoping the jolt of caffeine would do wonders. Lucas appeared and started pacing nervously along SeaDeck, eyes never leaving the moon pool. Kristin noticed his worried face and put down her cup, standing up to join him as he started pressing on several keys on the Vocoder.

"Is everything alright, Lucas?"

"It's Darwin." He let out a sigh. "I let him out to feed last night and he hasn't come back. I haven't seen him at all."

Kristin mirrored his troubled expression. "Well, have you let Captain Bridger know about this?"

"Yeah. That's part of why we stopped our course."

"Well, maybe he got distracted by something...perhaps another pod? Or a female? It _is_ mating season, you know." She smiled knowingly, trying to calm Lucas down.

"Yeah...maybe. But I still feel like something is wrong." He looked at her and noticed she looked tired.

"You okay?"

"Yes. I just didn't get much sleep last night. Nothing a good cup of coffee won't fix." She smiled.

His PAL went off and he quickly answered it while putting down the vocoder. "Yeah."

Nathan Bridger was on the other side. "Lucas, the WSKRs just spotted Darwin heading back in. I'll meet you in the Moon Pool. Looks like he's been tagged or something."

At that moment, Darwin popped his head out of the water.

"Captain, he's here!" Lucas smiled, relieved as Darwin swam up to the edge of the pool.

"Darwin, what happened? Where were you?" Lucas spoke frantically into the Vocoder.

" _Darwin feeding. Man with tail swim with Darwin. Darwin trapped. Tail man put shiny on Darwin."_

Lucas and Kristin looked confused. Kristin noticed that Darwin had something clamped to his fin. It looked like a camera and marker at the same time. She notices a name and number on the side of the camera. At that moment, Nathan walked towards them, patting Lucas on the back.

"How is he?"

Lucas responded to him. "He's fine but it looks like he's been tagged. Says it was some man with a tail."

Darwin spoke up. " _Man with tail breathe water_."

Nathan giggled. "You're telling me a merman hooked up a GoPro on our dolphin?" The other two chuckled lightly at the thought.

Lucas looked skeptical. "Maybe I need to update the software on the Vocoder or something."

Kristin spoke up. "Nathan, there's a number on the side of this camera." She wrote it down on a nearby notepad.

Nathan nodded and answered. "Then perhaps we should call them and let them know they tagged the wrong dolphin. They'll probably want their equipment back."

He looked over at Darwin. "You stay away from humans with tails."

He looked at Kristin. "Kristin, can I use your office to make the call?"

"Of course, Captain." Sh handed him the paper with the number she jotted down.

He walked into her office and dialed the number from the camera. After a few seconds, the link opened to reveal a handsome scientist in his early forties with steely blue eyes and dark black hair. He was on a boat.

"Hello, this is Elijah Woodward of the _S.S. Delphine_. May I help you?"

"Yes, I'm Captain Bridger of the SeaQuest. It seems someone in your group has tagged my dolphin and we were hoping to get it off and return it to you. We found this number on the camera."

Elijah cleared his throat and responded. "Oh...Captain, I'm so sorry we tagged your dolphin. I didn't realize SeaQuest even _had_ one. You see, we've been studying their mating habits in the area and happened upon him. We thought he was going to return to his pod and maybe he would capture something interesting. The tag is harmless, I assure you. In fact, it should disengage in another 12 hours, but I'd be happy to take our launch to you and remove the tag if that's alright. Actually, I'd be honored to see your ship. You know, I believe one of my old friends from graduate school is on board. Kristin Westphalen?"

"You know Kristin?"

"Oh yes, we were in the same Oceanography and Marine Life classes."

"Great. Where are you located right now?"

"Well, I'm just to the south of Freeport. Are you far from here?"

Nathan hesitated having this guy aboard, but they did need to get going back on course soon and he'd rather not have to deal with waiting for the tag to fall off. "As a matter of fact, we are in the Bahamas as well and can meet you halfway. I'll have our communications officer send you our location. We can host you for a little while and perhaps Kristin can show you around since you two are friends, but please understand we must continue on our mission." He pressed a button on the ComLink. "O'Neill, please send Mr. Woodward our coordinates for docking."

"Yes, sir." O'Neill responded. Nathan turned back to Elijah, who responded. "Excellent. Thank you, Captain. I can be there in an hour. I'll be sure not to overstay my welcome, but I am excited for the opportunity."

"Not a problem. We'll see you soon."

He walked outside and found Lucas and Kristin tossing the ball with Darwin. Lucas saw Nathan walk out.

"So how'd it go, Captain? Are they going to come take the tag off?"

"Yes. Apparently his group is studying mating habits of dolphins and thought that Darwin would lead him to a pod. He'll be here in an hour to remove the tag. I figure it's easier than waiting another 12 hours for the tag to fall off."

"Good. As far as Darwin is concerned he doesn't even feel the tag on him. But he still says it was a man with a tail breathing water that did it."

"Well, I assure you, this guy looked fairly human to me. In fact, Kristin, he said he knew you from graduate school...an Elijah Woodward?"

Kristin tilted her head in surprise the moment he said the guy's name.

"Oh wow. Elijah? I haven't seen him in years. We were lab partners years ago in graduate school. It's funny, he sent me an e-mail out of the blue just about a month ago to try and get together but we couldn't make it work with our schedules. To be honest, I didn't really try hard to make it work. He always did seem to have a crush on me." She smiled.

"Huh. That's awfully coincidental. Maybe it's destiny." He sarcastically.

"Ha! Doubtful. The man dated my roommate and I know more about him than I care to experience for myself. But we were always friendly and were in lots of study groups together. He was a bit of a loner, though." She smirked.

"You wouldn't happen to know if he's also a merman, would you?"

"Oh Nathan, please." She smacked him on the shoulder. "He's harmless. Just you're stereotypical geeky scientist obsessed with marine life and _Dungeons and Dragons_ or _Halo_ or _World of Warcraft_ or whatever it is they play these days."

Lucas overheard that comment and mocked insult. "Hey, Doc. Watch who you call a geek. I play all of those."

"Oh Lucas, you know I love you for it." She ruffled his hair for good measure.

"I'd be happy to show Elijah around real quick if you'd like. I guess I'll finally have that cup of coffee he's been insisting on and get him out my hair. He's harmless, but the man is a bit dull."

Nathan chuckled lightly on that, hoping that Kristin meant she wasn't attracted to him. "Ok but we better keep it short. Unfortunately, this little stop has put us a bit behind schedule and I don't want to delay getting to Newfoundland too much longer."

"Alright. Lucas and I will meet him at the launch when he gets here."

 **About an hour later at the launch bay...**

Elijah Woodward stepped out of his launch holding on to a fairly large yellow rolling container.

"Hello Elijah!" Kristin walked up and greeted him with a smile. Elijah dropped the case gently and embraced her.

"Kristin! I was afraid you didn't recognize me. I just dyed my hair and finally shaved that pesky beard."

"I can see that. This is a good look for you. Come on, after you get your tag off, I'll take you on a tour of the boat and we can finally grab that cup of coffee we've been trying to plan."

"That sounds wonderful. Oh my goodness, it's good to see you, Kris. I see the years have been kind to you. Then again, you always were the whole package of brains and beauty."

Kristin blushed slightly as she smiled. While Nathan was amused that his man was an old friend of Kristin's, he was also worried at how close of a friend he wanted to be. And from what Kristin told him, she wasn't reciprocating. He brought Elijah's attention back to him.

"If you will, Mr. Woodward. I would appreciate it if we could go ahead and get Darwin's tag removed so that we can give you a quick tour and be on our way."

"Oh yes. Of course. Duty calls, Captain." He smiled and grabbed the case again, rolling it with them towards SeaDeck.

When they arrived, Lucas was there with Darwin. As soon as they walked up, Nathan introduced them.

"Lucas, meet Elijah Woodward. He's the scientist who tagged Darwin."

"Pleased to meet you." He reached out his hand in greeting.

Suddenly Darwin spoke.

" _Man with tail come see Darwin_."

Elijah looked spooked and confused at where the voice came from. Kristin and Nathan smiled, knowingly. Kristin gently laid a hand on his shoulder and motioned to Darwin with her other hand.

"Elijah, this is Darwin. Lucas designed a program to help translate his clicks into speech."

"Extraordinary." Elijah was stunned.

"He seems to think a man with a tail tagged him. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that?"

Elijah chuckled. "A merman? I assure you I am very much a human, dear Darwin." He reached out to pet him nervously.

"Yeah, that's what we figured. I'm working on fixing any bugs in our software." Lucas walked over to a separate computer in the labs.

"Okay, then Darwin. Let' get that tag off of you." Elijah seemed anxious to get going. He started unpacking his rolling container, reaching in for a large computer and hard drive, along with various pieces of electronic equipment protected in many layers of foam.

Kristin took the time to explain the situation. "Elijah, just so you are aware, this project is technically classified. I'm afraid we cannot allow you to speak of Darwin to anyone else."

"Of course, Kris. It's just a talking dolphin. No big deal, right?" He brushed it off sarcastically, leading Kristin to smile back and nod.

"Right."

After just a few minutes, Elijah connected a long wire from the tag to the computer.

"Okay, Kris. Go ahead and catch the tag when I say so." Kristin was ready next to Darwin.

He pressed a few buttons on the computer and the tag disengaged, falling off into Kristin's hands. Darwin swam off once the tag was gone.

"There we go. No harm done." He placed the tag back in the container and shut down the computer, packing all the cables and hard drives.

At that moment, Darwin spoke as he swam around the moon pool.

"Darwin free from man with tail."

"Captain, while it's amazing that you can translate dolphin speech, I'm afraid you might now have to focus on getting his eyes checked." He joked, causing the others to giggle.

Kristin took the opportunity to hook her arm around his and lead him out of the room. "Come on. Let's grab that coffee to go and I'll quickly show you a few things. I'm afraid we're on a bit of a tight schedule. You can leave your stuff here for now. We'll come back here when we head towards Launch Bay."

"Wonderful."

They walked over to the coffee station in the mess, Elijah grabbing two cups and lids.

"Before I walk you around, I do need to stop by the ladies room for a second."

"No problem. Go ahead. Allow me to get your coffee. Do you still take one packet of creme and a packet of sweetener?"

"You remember that." She looked slightly shocked that he would.

"Well, I seem to remember getting lots and lots of coffee for our study groups back then. Jennifer always had hers straight black."

"Ah. Yes, of course. Have you spoken to her recently? I haven't seen her since shortly after we graduated."

Elijah looked uncomfortable. "No. No, I haven't seen her in a while. We never did get things to work out. I couldn't be with someone who didn't _get me_. No one's ever really understood me."

He looked forlorn and Kristin nodded understandingly. Elijah seemed to snap out of it. "Well, go on and grab your bathroom break. I'll have your coffee ready before you know it." He smiled.

"Thank you." She ran off real quick to the nearest restroom.

When she emerged, he had her coffee waiting. She sipped it and smiled. "You are a doll. I wasn't able to finish my morning coffee. This is heavenly. Come on, let me show you the labs."

He smiled appreciatively. As she showed him around for about half an hour, they made small talk, sipping their coffee, reminiscing about the past and catching each other up about what they've been up to. Kristin noticed the time and decided they should start heading back towards SeaDeck to pick up his container. When they arrived back in SeaDeck, Kristin started to feel a little tired, but brushed it off to the caffeine not kicking in yet. Darwin greeted them.

" _Man with tail say goodbye_."

They both chuckled at this insistence that Elijah had a tail.

"I must say your dolphin is very amusing."

"Well, Darwin's speech may be a bit hard to understand sometimes but it is pretty exciting to be able to understand such a smart creature."

"I wonder what this 'man with a tail' business is about. Do you really think he's seen a merman? I mean, that would be remarkable."

Kristin chuckled. "Well, we can't always take his words literally, but I suppose that _would_ be wonderful."

"I knew it, Kristin. You seem like you would love the possibility of mermaids, don't you? Imagine not needing Scuba equipment...swimming freely like the dolphins in the oceans at your leisure...I, for one, have often dreamed of it." He looked at her thoughtfully, studying her response.

"Yes, I suppose that would be nice. But unfortunately we have something called lungs which need oxygen and not water to breathe."

"Yes, I suppose so. I'm afraid evolution wanted us out of the oceans for some reason. And yet, here we are trying to get back in it." He smiled and noticed Kristin's eyelids were getting a bit droopy.

"Kristin, are you alright?"

"I don't know, I'm feeling very tired all of a sudden. Perhaps I need to lie down for a bit. I'm sorry I really didn't get much sleep last night."

"Why don't you let me walk you to your room?"

"Yes, that would probably be a good idea." She seemed a bit out of it. Elijah grabbed his rolling case with one arm and walked with her towards her quarters.

Once inside her room, he put down the cart and led her to the bed.

"I should probably have Lucas lead you back to the Launch Bay."

"Yes, that would be fine."

"I'm sorry I don't know what's gotten into me but I really am just so tired." She reached for her PAL unit. "Lucas, can you please meet Elijah in front of my room? I'm afraid I'm not feeling well enough to walk him to the Launch Bay."

"Yeah, Doc. I'll be right there. You okay?" came the reply.

"Yes, I'm fine. I just need to lie down for a nap." She yawned, prompting Elijah to help her lie down on the bunk.

"Sleep, dear Kris. You'll feel better with some rest. And I'll see you again very soon." He smiled hopefully.

"Mhmm...thank you." She quickly closed her eyes and lost consciousness.

 **Just outside her room:**

Lucas rounded the corner and found Elijah walking out of Kristin's bunk with his cart, still leaning in as if talking to Kristin..

"Sleep well, Kris. It was great seeing you." He waved inside the bunk and closed the door as he noticed Lucas and signaled for him to be quiet by placing his finger on his mouth and whispering.

"Shhh. I'm afraid she's fallen asleep, Lucas."

"Yeah, the doc looked a little out of it this morning. She must have had a rough night. Come on, I'll lead you to the Launch Bay."

"Thank you."

 **At the Launch Bay:**

Nathan waited for Elijah to show up and was surprised when he saw Lucas leading him there.

"Where's Dr. Westphalen?"

Elijah answered. "Oh, the poor girl was feeling very tired, Captain. She did give me a wonderful tour and we managed to say our goodbyes before she fell asleep in her bunk. Lucas was kind enough to escort me here."

"Is she alright?"

Lucas chimed in. "Yeah, she did mention she just didn't get much sleep last night."

"Alright, I'll go check on her later. Dr. Woodward, thank you for coming by so quickly to remove the tag."

"Not a problem, Captain. Thank you for having me onboard your ship. It is quite extraordinary. And Darwin's speech is unbelievable."

"Well, maybe I'll have Kristin contact you about a possible collaboration for your research."

"That would be wonderful. Thank you." He shook their hands and rolled his container in his launch.

 **Several hours later:**

The SeaQuest had taken off for Newfoundland and was on course for their mission to chart the trenches. Nathan sat at his chair and noticed the time. He reached for his PAL and tried paging Kristin but received no answer. He then paged Lucas.

"Yeah, Cap?"

"Lucas, has Dr. Westphalen shown up on SeaDeck yet?"

"Nah. She must still be napping."

"After four hours? Maybe I'll go check on her and make sure she's alright. Thanks."

He left the bridge and walked towards her quarters. He gently knocked on the door, in case she was still sleeping. After a few seconds, he decided to open her door and peek in. He saw a bump on the bunk covered in a blanket and slowly walked towards her, wanting to reassure himself that she was alright.

When he reached for the top of the blanket, all he found were computer parts and cables hidden underneath. He panicked for a second before realizing what must have happened.

"Damn."

Suddenly he heard a noise, but it wasn't his PAL unit. He found Kristin's unit ringing on the floor and picked it up.

"This is the Captain."

"Captain?" Levin was on the other side. "I was just trying to reach Kristin and see when she was going to report to plan out the charts."

"Kristin isn't here. And I have a feeling I know what happened. I'll let you know once I talk with Commander Ford."

"Yes, Captain."

He reached for his own PAL unit.

"Jonathan, I want you to stop the boat and have the senior crew meet me in the Ward Room in 5 minutes. I want Lucas there as well."

"Aye, Cap. Is everything alright?"

"Afraid not. Kristin is missing."

"What?"

"I think our _friend_ , Dr. Woodward, wasn't as friendly as he seemed."

The sinking feeling in his stomach left him needing to take a deep breath as he realized that Kristin was now possibly in danger because she trusted an old friend. It had been at least four hours since Dr. Woodward left, which gave him a very real advantage. He looked around and spoke out loud to no one in particular.

"Hang in there, Kristin. We're coming for you."

He quickly made his way to the Ward Room, hoping they would find her wherever she was.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 **At an undisclosed laboratory underwater:**

Kristin woke up suddenly aware that she was strapped down on a bed and had a tube down her throat. She heard a distant heart rate monitor as she noticed Elijah's face smiling down on her.

"Welcome back, Kris. We just finished up. Let me take this tube off of you now."

He gently removed the tube, causing her to cough as she cleared her airway. She felt something in the back of her throat and noticed the bed starting to tilt forward.

"Here, have some water." He put a glass up to her mouth and she was grateful for the refreshment. She noticed something strange as she swallowed and the water seemed to give her a gulp of air as it went down.

She finally found her voice. "Elijah, what have you done? Where am I?"

"Dearest Kris. I thought I'd show you what I've _really_ been up to lately."

"By drugging and kidnapping me? Don't you think a simple invite would have sufficed?"

"I feel like you've been avoiding me, Kris. And I can't exactly let you know everything I've been up to. It's not exactly sanctioned by the UEO." He spoke matter of factly. "I have to _show_ you in order for you to understand."

"What are you talking about, Elijah? What did you do to me?" She started worrying even more.

"I've simply given you a gift, Kris. You see, I haven't been studying dolphin behavior as I have led you to believe. I have actually been working on that dream of mine to swim freely in the oceans. I found a way to harness oxygen and capture it in the form of a crystal. And now you have at least 6 hours worth of it before it dissolves. It'll take in the oxygen from the seawater and give you air."

"You _what_? But why? Why did you feel like you had to kidnap me?"

"Kristin..." He looked at her lovingly and caressed her face, which made her flinch.

"You know, ever since Jen and I broke up, I haven't stopped thinking of you. I thought maybe I could find someone else who understood me the way you did. Someone who could share my passions. But no one ever compared to you."

"For God's sake, Elijah. Have you gone _mad_? You do realize you're going to have the UEO after you for what you've done. I am their CMO and Captain Bridger will do everything in his power to come and find me." She tried to keep up hope and stay brave for the time being.

"They'll never find us, sweet Kristin. I've taken care to cover my tracks." He motioned to two other men in the room who had been standing guard nearby with guns ready. They started undoing Kristin's straps.

"Allow me to introduce my _colleagues_." He used the term sarcastically. "They're here to help _motivate_ you to cooperate. I want you to try something that I think you will enjoy tremendously. I have been dreaming of this moment for so long."

As soon as she was free, the two men led her to the edge of the nearby moon pool which led to the ocean, keeping a tight hold on her..

"Where are we, Elijah?"

"Well, you probably don't recognize it, but this is our dear Professor Lockhart's old animal rehab center. You remember when he brought us here to study the animals he used to treat."

"And he let you use this for your sick purposes? Where is he?"

"I'm afraid he recently became... _indisposed."_ He smirked.

Sheer terror came across her face as she realized this man had likely killed their old professor to use his center. "Elijah what you have you done with him."

"Me? I haven't done anything to him. Not myself at least." He smiled knowingly at his mercenaries. "He was very generous in letting us _borrow_ his facilities. This was the perfect setting for what I have in mind." He raised his eyebrows excitedly.

"And what is it you have in mind?"

"I want _you..._ to fulfill my fantasy, Kris. I want you to experience what it's like to breathe underwater and swim like a mermaid. Once you've done it, you'll never want to go back to Scuba gear."

" _What_? You mean...Darwin was right...you _were_ breathing underwater?"

"Yes, and I did have a tail. Your dolphin is quite perceptive. It is an amazing experience, let me tell you."

"How...how did you develop this?" She asked, unsure that she wanted to know the answer.

"Well, I couldn't very well go to the UEO with my methods. I admit I did it in secrecy. I didn't want them to interfere with what I wanted to do. It would have never been approved."

"You tested subjects unwillingly."

"HIPAA be damned. I mostly used animals at first, and then I got my hands on some lowlife criminals that nobody would miss. They mostly tested the contact lenses and the crystals. I had to go through a _lot_ of testing to get to this point. But fear not, it is completely safe now." He smiled as if everything he did had been justified. "Everything has been leading up to this moment."

He motioned towards something in the pool. "I've taken the liberty of finding you a tail to wear. I want you to go and change into this swimsuit." He handed her a teal two piece and motioned towards the restroom nearby.

"Don't take too long...and don't try anything, dear. I've got a surprise hidden on your ship in case you decide to disobey me. One push of a button and the _computer_ I left behind in your room will leave a very nasty mess."

He smiled menacingly, knowing Kristin would never allow that to happen. She took a deep breath and nodded, showing her surrender as she walked into the bathroom with the suit. When she walked out changed, he motioned for her to walk into the shallow end of the pool where there was a turquoise neoprene and rubber mermaid tail laying on the ledge in the water.

"Go ahead...just slip it on. It takes some getting used to, I admit. But you'll get the hang of it." It disturbed Kristin to hear him speak so calmly about this but she had little choice but to follow his orders, as the two men kept their guns trained on her. She slipped into the tail and he helped zip it up, causing her to flinch as his hand rubbed up her back when she was done. She noticed there was a belt attached to the top of it and he secured it around her waist with the click of a lock.

"There's a weight belt attached to this so that you don't float up to the surface. It's help you find your balance. But you can't slip it off either. Only I can lock and unlock it. Don't worry, I'll be sure to give you breaks every hour or so, until you get used to it. And if you behave and I feel like I can trust you, then perhaps I'll join you as well."

He noticed she was scared and hesitant.

"Don't be scared, dear Kris. This is perfectly safe. I've done it myself."

"Elijah, you can't just force people to do this."

"I'm not forcing you, Kristin. I'm giving you something you know you want. I know _I_ want to see you as well." He seemed completely obsessed and unwilling to see how his actions were unreasonable. "And here are the final pieces." He handed her a case of what looked like normal contact lenses.

"These'll help protect your eyes and let you see underwater. They're very comfortable. I've been working on them for a while. Please...put them on."

She did so, noticing they were quite comfortable, but they left her vision a little blurry.

"They'll clear up once you're in the ocean. They're meant to work in salt water. Now...off you go. I know it seems frightening but allow yourself to breathe in the water and it will become second nature to you in no time. Let me help you."

He grabbed her arm and led her to scoot down the ledge which led into the ocean.

"Elijah, I don't think I can do this. Please... _please_ let me go back to _SeaQuest._ I can tell Captain Bridger that I went willingly with you. You won't get in trouble. Nobody has to know about this. _Please_."

He brushed off her comments. "Nonsense, Kris. You said yourself you would love to experience this. I'm simply giving you the chance. Now go on."

He gave her a slight nudge off the edge and she found herself screaming, having missed taking in a breath before sinking fairly quickly below the surface. She kept her eyes closed, and the shock led her to release a steady stream of bubbles as she tried unsuccessfully to swim up to the surface, trying to fight the unnatural movement of having her feet inside the tail and struggling against the weight of it pulling her down. Once she ran out of breath, she involuntarily gulped in some water, holding her throat as the shock of feeling the water rush in her mouth and nose made her panic. To her surprise, she did not feel water go into her lungs. Instead, she was slowly able to breathe normally. She opened her eyes carefully, her vision slightly blurred at first. It slowly became clearer and she looked up to notice that the ledge now had a net preventing her from going back up to the surface. She turned around and noticed there were a few natural corals and rocks behind her along with some wildlife that swam through the holes in the domelike cage, protecting her from any large predators outside but also preventing her from swimming away. She tried loosening the weight belt, but it wouldn't budge. As she turned back around, she saw a giant observation window in front of her, where she noticed Elijah standing up against it watching her. She awkwardly tried swimming with the tail to reach him and took a while to adjust to the movements, waving her arms to balance herself. She eventually made it there, surprised at how well she was able to see and breathe. _This really is extraordinary,_ she thought. But the circumstances of the experience left her feeling overwhelmed with fear.

 **Inside the observation room:**

Elijah watched as Kristin struggled to adjust to the new environment, remembering all too well how it felt to be immersed and breathing in the water for the first time and trying to figure out how to swim in the tail. Kristin seemed to have an easier time of it than he had.

"This is just like in my dreams, dear Kristin." He spoke out loud to himself, mesmerized by her movements as a smile crept on his face. He noticed her swimming towards him, her movements becoming more fluid with each passing second.

 _She's a natural,_ he thought. _Even more beautiful as a mermaid than I imagined_. She came up to the glass, looking at him with a sad look on her face as she placed her hand against his on the other side of the glass. Her hair floated gently around her face, making him want to reach out and touch her. He placed his hand on the glass opposite hers. He could tell she was amazed at the experience, but was understandably upset at her incarceration. _She'll get over it. She'll love me for what I've done._ He brushed away the feelings of guilt and convinced himself this was the only way.

As if sensing his inner battle, she shook her head in disapproval and pushed off away from the glass, swimming along the edge of the caged dome, hoping to find a way out, staring into the depths of the ocean and willing Nathan and the _SeaQuest_ to find her.

 **A/N: Have I lost you yet? Is this too "out there"? Or do you like it? I tried keeping it rooted in reality as much as possible. The crystal that can harness oxygen is an actual thing that is being developed called the Aquaman Crystal, though I modified its use a bit for the purpose of my story. I hope you like it so far! And thanks to jujuone23 for reviewing so quickly. I thrive on getting notifications that people are actually reading and enjoying my writing. Thanks!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

 **On the SeaQuest:**

Commander Ford, Hitchcock, Krieg, Crocker and Lucas looked worried as they sat at the conference table in the Ward room. Nathan walked in and started to address them.

"Alright everyone. We have a situation. It seems our latest visitor has taken a souvenir with him. Dr. Westphalen is now missing and we found his equipment in her bunk. He must have smuggled her out in that container of his."

Lucas looked annoyed. "I thought she said he was a friend. He seemed nice."

"That may be, Lucas, but she also mentioned he was a bit of an awkward man. She said he'd had a crush on her back in grad school and I know it wasn't reciprocated. That's probably his motive."

Hitchcock shuddered, knowing how unnerving it could be to have a persistent man try and ask you out.

"Why do some men just _not_ get the hint?" She blurted out rhetorically, sharing everyone's annoyance.

"Katie, I don't think a hint would have worked. Not even bluntness would get through to this guy. I think he's the type that just doesn't take no for an answer."

Ford spoke up. "Which way do we go, Captain? If he's had a four hour head start from where we started, he could be almost anywhere by now."

Nathan nodded. "I'm honestly not sure. The plan right now is to turn back around and head where we came from until we know where we're going."

At that moment, the comm unit chirped. Nathan pushed the button, prompting O'Neill's voice.

"Captain, we have a communication from an unknown source."

"Patch it through to the Ward Room, O'Neill."

"Yes, sir."

"And see if you can trace it."

"I'll try, sir."

The screen in the room turned on to reveal a close up of Dr. Woodward smiling evilly.

"Hello, Captain."

"Calling to gloat?" Nathan was having a hard time keeping his anger in check.

"Perhaps I am. I simply wanted to thank you for making it so easy for me to finally catch up with Kris."

"Where is she? We want to know that she is okay."

"Oh she's more than okay. Boy, do I have a surprise for _you_." He grinned knowingly as he pushed a button on the computer to zoom out the screen. The crew held their breaths as the large observation window came into view and they saw what looked like a mermaid swimming in the background along the edge of a domelike cage.

"What the...is that...is that the Doc?" Lucas spoke what everyone else was wondering as they all were too shocked to try and make sense of what they were seeing. Nathan stood up.

"What have you _done t_ o her?"

"Just a little something special I've been working on. Remarkable, isn't it? I must say she is quite a natural. Watch this." He pulled out a small remote from his pocket and pushed a button.

"Kristin! Kristin come over here. Some people want to say hello!"

Kristin turned towards the sound of her name, hearing it clearly near the window. She looked somewhat hopeful as she noticed Elijah was talking to someone on the VidLink. She swam towards them to get a better view, pressing her hands up to the glass as she noticed her crew on the screen. She tried pounding on the glass but knew it was pointless and that there was no way she could communicate. She just stared at their amazed faces as they took in what was going on. Bubbles escaped her mouth as she tried to form words, but knowing full well there was no way they could hear her.

"Kristin, dear, can you hear us?"Elijah smirked.

She nodded her head, never breaking eye contact with Nathan.

Nathan looked incredulous, as did everyone else. "She can _breathe water_?"

"Yes, but only for a few hours, Captain. Then the crystal that allows for this will dissolve and she will simply go back to being a normal air-breathing human." He replied bluntly

Nathan took the opportunity to reassure her. "We're coming for you Kristin! Hang in there!" She looked sad and nodded.

"Don't give her false hope, Captain."

Nathan was somewhat at a loss for words. "You didn't have to _kidnap_ her." He clenched his fist, trying to maintain control.

"Kristin would always make excuses for not being able to get together with me. I merely cleared her schedule _for_ her."

"She _trusted_ you. How could you possibly think this is justified?"

"Captain, I don't need you to point out my lack of morality. I gave that up long ago when I dated her roommate just to be near her."

"I'll have you know, Dr. Westphalen is a valued member of my crew and the _SeaQuest_ and the UEO will not stop until we get her back. I promise we _will_ find you. And I won't be held responsible for my actions when I do." Nathan was getting angrier.

"Stop with the threats Captain. You and I both know you have no idea where I am." He smiled condescendingly.

Nathan chose his words carefully, trying not to feel helpless. "Let her _go_ , Woodward. Why are you doing this?"

"Captain, come on. You make this sound like a horrible situation. Look at her! It's an amazing experience. She's enjoying it. And I know _I_ am, too." He raised his eyebrows suggestively as Kristin shook her head.

"Dammit, you can't just trap her in there against her will for your _sick fetish_." Nathan banged his hand on the table as he failed to hold back his anger. Ford reached for his arm in an effort to try and calm him down, which he acknowledged and took a slow breath, sitting back down in chair as Elijah responded.

"This isn't a fetish, Captain. This is the _future_. As you can imagine, I don't think I'll have any problems finding buyers for my little invention. And I _will_ offer it to the highest bidder, regardless of what confederation they are from. Imagine being able to send military personnel in the water without needing heavy Scuba gear or goggles and without the hassle of having to surgically create gills like some other government experiments. Don't you think this would be worth a fortune?" He paused to let it sink in. "Now, if you'll excuse me, it's time to give Kris a break. I'm sure the water must be freezing and that tail _is_ very heavy. She's probably quite hungry as well." He turned to her. "Say goodbye, sweetheart."

She shook her head and placed her hands on the glass in a hopeless effort to try and stay connected to her crewmembers, frustrated that there was nothing she could do as the VidLink went dark.

"Come on, dear. Meet me up top."

 **Back on SeaQuest:**

As the screen went dark, Nathan pushed the button on the ComLink.

"O'Neill, please tell me you were able to get a trace."

"Sorry, Cap. He had me blocked the whole time. But I _did_ manage to record the transmission."

"Alright. Thanks." He reluctantly pushed the button to cut the connection. Nathan put his head in his hands and stared blankly down at the table, needing a moment to gather his thoughts.

Krieg tried to fill in the awkward silence. "You gotta admit that was pretty unbelievable. I mean...she was just... _breathing_ the water. And she did just glide through it like nothing...It was like watching ' _The Little Mermaid'_ or something. "

Lucas agreed. "Yeah. I'm starting to think Darwin wasn't crazy after all. This guy probably _did_ have a tail. At least I don't have to troubleshoot the Vocoder anymore."

Nathan turned to Lucas as if wanting to avoid wasting any more time until they found Kristin. "Lucas, Dr. Westphalen said she received an e-mail from this guy about a month ago. I don't suppose you can put that to good use."

"I'm on it, Cap. I'll see is I can trace his IP address or something."

He smiled gratefully. "And check the computer in her bunk. Find out whatever you can about this guy. Search her grad school records if you have to. We're kind of gripping at straws here."

"I assume you tried that VidLink number again?"

"Yes. Just as soon as I found out. It's been conveniently disconnected."

"I'll try and see if I can run a trace on the recorded message too, though if O'Neill couldn't get it live, it's unlikely I will be able to either."

Nathan had another thought. "Unless this guy built that giant underwater cage himself, he's obviously holding her somewhere that's established. We need to track down every place that has a cage like that."

Hitchcock responded. "Captain there are at least a few dozen of those around. Maybe more."

"And I want you to contact each and every one of them and see if we can find something out."

"Aye, Cap."

"Mr. Krieg, I don't suppose you can find out if anyone sells mermaid fins like the one we just saw."

"I think I can find that out."

"Okay, have O'Neill freeze frame a clear picture and use that for reference. Let's see who's recently purchased one of these and see if we can use that to help narrow down a location or something. We've got to use his little _show-off_ for something productive."

"Yes, sir."

"Ford, I'm going to need you to take the Bridge while I talk to Noyce and try to explain what's going on."

"No problem, Captain."

"Alright everyone, dismissed. Let me know the moment you find something. Thank you."

They shuffled out, leaving Nathan sitting alone in the room. He took a deep breath and thought out loud. "Kris, hang in there. We'll find you. If I have to search the whole ocean myself, I'll _find_ you."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

 **At the Lockhart Underwater Observatory:**

Kristin swam up to the top of the ledge, having seen that the net was now gone. As soon as she pierced through the surface, she coughed out some water that was in her mouth and nose and let her lungs transition to regular air. She felt her arms being lifted by two men on either side, who helped prop her up on the ledge. She took a few moments to catch her breath.

"Well, Kristin. What do you think? Isn't it wonderful?" The way Elijah spoke made her feel sick. Here she was trapped in cage and paraded in front of her crew and he acted as if everything was normal. She kept quiet, much to Elijah's annoyance.

"Come on, Kris. You have to admit I've done something amazing. I mean, you should _see_ yourself...you look like you belong in there."

"The only place I belong is back on _SeaQuest_. Let me go." She tried to avoid eye contact.

"You really think I could let you go after all the trouble I went through to get to this point? Don't you see, Kristin? We are on the edge of changing the world with this." Seeing that she was holding onto her arms protectively, he changed his tactic.

"Come on, you must be cold and tired." He walked up to her and started undoing the lock on the tail using a key around his neck, helping her slip out slowly with the help of the two other men as they lifted her out of the pool and onto the floor. Her legs felt tired and she struggled to maintain herself upright as she instinctively held onto his shoulders for support.

"Kristin, you're shivering! Here. Dry yourself up."

He grabbed a nearby towel and handed it to her. She felt momentary relief as she pat herself dry. He also grabbed a long, fuzzy robe and held it out for her. She quickly slipped her arms in and wrapped the robe tightly around her, grateful for the warmth it provided.

"There you go. All better." He rubbed her back, trying to give her more warmth as she flinched away from him.

"Stop touching me." She wanted to get away but knew there was no chance of escaping him. She sat down in the nearby chair in defeat, also tired from swimming unnaturally and with the added weight of the tail.

"Come on, Kris, you don't mean that. Look, I know what it's like. Your body still needs to get used to it."

"I don't _want_ to get used to it."

"You're talking nonsense, Kris. Do you know how many people would _love_ to be able to do this? I'm giving you the opportunity of a lifetime. The least you can do is _thank_ me."

"Well, forgive me if I'm not exactly jumping for joy at the thought of being locked up."

"I can't exactly trust you in the open ocean, can I? Besides, I don't plan to keep you caged the _whole_ time. I mean, I _am_ giving you breaks."

She looked at him disappointedly. "You can't possibly be that daft."

" _Daft_? I've only created one of the most revolutionary things since the beginning of time. I found a way for humans to go back to the sea. Surely you can appreciate that. I thought you'd _love_ this."

"I'm not saying it isn't remarkable...I just...it didn't have to be this way. Elijah, you're a _criminal_. You've tested and killed unwilling subjects, you kidnapped me, you...you _murdered_ Dr. Lockhart." She took a pause trying to comprehend everything the man had done. "You realize there's nowhere you can hide. I _know_ Captain Bridger will find me."

"Your blind trust is inspiring, but I highly doubt that. Besides, we're not going to stay here much longer. But I needed to bring you here. At least for a little while." A smile came across his face as he looked around. "Do you remember when we first came here for class? It was the first time you and I were assigned to work together. We sat in the lab next door and Dr. Lockhart had us dissecting a starfish. You were _so_ smart..and beautiful..and kind. Other girls never treated me the way _you_ did. Not even Jen."

He looked distant and Kristin felt a hint of pity for the man currently in front of her. But it did not justify his actions. She noticed one of the men had brought in a tray with a sandwich, some chips and a glass of water and placed it on the table next to her. She looked at it skeptically, unsure of whether she should eat it.

"Go on, eat. It's perfectly harmless. I can't exactly have you drugged and tired while you're in there. You need your strength. But you _will_ have to go back in soon. After all, you only have a few hours left before the crystal runs out and now that you've gotten the hang of it, I intend to make a few calls and show you off to potential buyers."

She hesitated for another second before grabbing the sandwich and taking a bite, her hunger getting the better of her as she contemplated how she was going to get out of this.

 **Back on the SeaQuest:**

O'Neill's voice resonated it he Ward Room.

"Captain, I've got Admiral Noyce on the line."

"Put him through."

"Aye, Cap."

The screen turned on to Admiral Noyce sitting at his desk.

"Nathan, what's going on? Your Communications Officer wouldn't tell me why you're calling."

Nathan took a deep breath and sighed. "Bill, we've got a situation. I'm afraid Dr. Westphalen has been kidnapped."

"What? How can someone disappear off a submarine?"

"The short story is that Darwin was tagged while he was out feeding and it turned out to be an old friend of Kristin's. So we trusted him to come on board and remove it but he apparently also smuggled her out without anyone noticing."

"My God. Why would he _do_ such a thing?"

"He's a lovelorn Romeo." Nathan replied defeated. "Look, I know this might sound crazy but it seems this guy has invented some sort of crystal or something to allow humans to breathe underwater without any gear. He just called us. He's got her trapped in some underwater cage and dressed her up as a mermaid. A _mermaid_ , Bill. It's twisted. I saw her behind a glass window into the ocean...she was...she was _breathing_ and swimming with a tail...it's...well, it's amazing, for one thing."

Noyce looked interested and concerned. "Wow. Breathing underwater? I mean I've heard of the gills research, but this was definitely not something that was sanctioned by the UEO or any government I know of...but if he's done what you say he has...that's extraordinary." He paused as a worried look came over him. "Nathan, if that kind of a breakthrough gets in the wrong hands."

Nathan interrupted him, knowing where Bill was going. "He already plans to sell it to the highest bidder."

"Damn."

Nathan was frustrated at the whole situation. "Bill, to _hell_ with this _breakthrough_. I need to get her back. There's no telling what this sick man is capable of. She's being locked in a _cage_ for God's sake."

Noyce nodded, understanding his friend's need to protect Kristin. He had always suspected something was going on, especially since the incident with Milos Teslov.

"What do you need from me, Nathan."

"Well, first I need you to contact the Canadian government and let them know we had to put a hold on mapping their trenches. Make any excuse you have to so we can focus our search."

"Of course. What's your plan for finding this guy?"

"We're trying everything we can think of. I'm having Lucas find out what he can about him and, based on what we saw, I have Lt. Commander Hitchcock contacting various underwater rehab centers and seeing if we can track down where they are. And Lt. Krieg is tracking down whatever company sells these mermaid fins."

Noyce nodded, not thinking of anything else they could do in this situation.

"I'll stall for you and the _SeaQuest_ as long as I can. But Nathan, I don't think we should be broadcasting this information out to people. Not with this kind of research at stake. Please make sure your crew maintain discretion when making any contact."

"They're aware of the sensitive nature of this situation but I'll be sure to remind them."

Noyce took a deep breath as if finally letting all this information sink in as he looked at his friend with a sympathetic glance.

"Nathan, I'm sorry about Dr. Westphalen. I really am."

"Thanks, Bill." He cut off the link and went off in search of Lucas, not wanting to waste any more time.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

 **On SeaQuest:**

Nathan walked briskly towards Lucas' room, hoping he was able to find something about this guy. As he made his way there, he noticed Lt. Krieg also moving quickly down the opposite hall.

"There you are, Cap. I found some information. It's not much, but I did track down a company that manufactures these kind of fins. The guy said they sell mostly to gyms and college campuses for group classes. Apparently mermaid swims are a really intense and effective workout."

He held up a pack of about fifty papers. "I had to pull a few strings but I was able to get a list of buyers from the last six months. There are _thousands_ of names on here, though. And not one of them is Elijah Woodward or anything similar. I was going to meet with Lucas and see if this was any help."

"That's good, Mr. Krieg. We can ask him together. Come with me."

They rounded the corner to Lucas' room and knocked on the door.

"Come in!" They walked inside and found Lucassitting at his computer.

"Any luck?" Nathan asked, knowing it hadn't been long, but hoping Lucas was able to find something.

Lucas looked back at them, still chewing on the pencil in his mouth.

"I haven't gone to Dr. Westphalen's room for the computer and hard drives yet but I _was_ able to track down a little bit of information about this guy. I traced the e-mail he sent the Doc but there wasn't much I could find.He created that address solely for the purpose of writing to her and he did it from a computer that is located at the public library in West Palm Beach about a month ago. So that was a dead end. I _was,_ however, able to find a few of his professional publications but they stop in 2012. I even found an outdated _World of Warcraft_ account in his name that he hasn't used since then either. And I couldn't find any other records of him anywhere after that year. It's like he disappeared or something."

"More like he was doing research that couldn't be published." Nathan added dryly.

"There's more. He doesn't have a Facebook page, which is strange, but I did manage to locate a few photos of him. There's one of him from 2008 at an Oceanography conference in La Jolla." He clicked through different browsers. "And this one of him and the Doc at the Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter, Florida through a random scanned page of the yearbook." He opened another browser showing a picture of Elijah, Kristin and several other classmates inside a laboratory with a professor. He read the caption under the photo. " _Dr. Ernest Lockhart's senior class of 2002_." He paused with a smirk. "Check this out. Did you know the Doc was a hot _blonde_?"

Nathan gave him a side glance for that comment and studied the picture before Lucas switched the browser again. "Then there's _this_ one." It was a picture of Elijah with his arms poorly edited around the same picture of Kristin from the class photo. "This was on his _Warcraft_ profile page. He obviously photoshopped this together...and he didn't do a very good job...but it seems like he _really_ likes the Doc."

At that moment, Krieg spoke up, having been skimming through the stacks of paper in his hand.

"Lucas, did you say it was a Dr. Ernest Lockhart?"

"Yeah, That's it."

A smile came on Krieg's face as he held out one of the pages in his stack. "There's an order for two mermaid tails from an Ernest Lockhart about a month ago. Says it was delivered to the _Lockhart Underwater Observatory_ just off of West Palm Beach." He pointed at the name triumphantly as they all felt a glimmer of hope.

"Lucas, see if you can find any pictures of this place. I want to confirm before we set a course. Krieg, hand me the freeze frame of Kristin from the transmission."

Lucas punched in the name as Krieg searched his papers for the photo he got from O'Neill Kristin. Lucas found a website for the Observatory and clicked on the link. He found a button that said "Gallery" and clicked on it, opening up a slideshow of the place. As he clicked through, Nathan grabbed his shoulder signaling him to stop at one photo in particular. All three immediately looked shocked as they saw a picture of the room with the large observation window that was unmistakeably where Kristin was being held.

Nathan let out a relieved sigh and patted Lucas' shoulder in triumph. "That's it!" He grabbed his PAL and paged Commander Ford.

"Ford here."

"Commander, I want you to set a course for West Palm Beach to the _Lockhart Underwater Observatory_. All ahead full. We found where this guy's holding Kristin."

"Aye, Cap."

 **At the Lockhart Underwater Observatory:**

Kristin had finished eating her sandwich and was sitting in the chair, trying to avoid interacting with Elijah as much as possible as he continued to stare at her.

"You know, you can't just keep ignoring me."

She curled up her legs as if to keep warm and let out a sigh, lowering her head down to rest on her knees.

"Dammit, Kristin. I never wanted to force you into this. You made it difficult for me. I simply wanted to _impress_ you. This is all for _you_. Don't you _want_ to be with a smart and soon-to-be _very rich_ scientist? I will be able to give you everything you could possibly ever want. We can travel and study the oceans _together_...maybe we can even start a family. Wouldn't that be nice?"

She lifted her head slightly, a pained expression on her face as a tear rolled down her cheek, realizing how delusional he had become since she last saw him. "No. No, it _wouldn't_ be nice. This is sick, Elijah. You need help." Elijah seemed hurt and annoyed by her words.

"I don't need _anything_. I have what I want right here." He replied resolutely.

She stood up quickly, as if she were going to try and get away, but the two men nearby grabbed her arms. She struggled in their grasp as Elijah walked towards her and nodded to the men to let her go. He put his hands on her shoulders and leaned in to kiss her, keeping a tight hold as she struggled to pull away. When he finally pulled back, she immediately slapped him hard, causing him to hold his cheek in pain. She met his angry look with one of her own, but worried deep inside if she had pushed him too far.

"I'm going to pretend that didn't happen, for _your_ sake. Now, get back in there. We're going to put on a good show for my buyers, or so help me I _will_ hurt your friends on the _SeaQuest."_ The two men grabbed her arms again and dragged her towards the pool. Kristin realized she really didn't have any choice but to do what he said. She walked onto the ledge and felt the cold water send a shiver up her spine as she slipped back into the tail and allowed for Elijah to lock her in, avoiding eye contact as she pushed off the ledge angrily and let the tail drag her down into the freezing water below.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

 **On the SeaQuest Bridge:**

Nathan walked onto the Bridge with newfound confidence that they were on the right track to saving Kristin. Lt. Hitchcock approached him and he put his hand on her shoulder.

"Lt. Hitchcock, I don't suppose you already managed to give these guys a call yet?"

"No, sir. Did you want me to?"

"No. Let's not call them now that we know. I don't want this guy to get spooked and disappear before we have a chance to ambush. You _were_ discreet in sharing many details when you spoke to these people, right?"

"Yes, sir. I told them I was just doing a protocol check."

"Good work, Hitchcock. Thank you."

"Yes, sir."

He looked over at Commander Ford. "What's our ETA, Commander?"

"We should be there in about an hour, maybe a little less if the currents are on our side."

Nathan let out a frustrated sigh. "That's good, but I don't want to risk Kristin being there any longer than she has to."

"We're pushing the engines to the limit as is. Believe me, we _all_ want to get there as quickly as possible." He put his hand on his shoulder sympathetically and Nathan nodded appreciatively.

"And once we're there, let's keep the _SeaQuest_ away from view. We don't want them to have any heads up to escape." He heard the chirp of his PAL unit.

"Bridger here."

Lucas was on the other end. "Captain, we have a problem."

"What is it, Lucas?"

"I'm in the Doc's room. I was going to check out those external hard drives. You'd better come take a look at this. They're not hard drives at all. Captain, I think it's a bomb."

His stomach sank as he wondered how much worse things could get.

 **At the Lockhart Underwater Observatory:**

Kristin once again took a few seconds to adjust to breathing in the water and opened her eyes. As she expected, the net was back on, preventing her from being able to go up to the surface. She swam a little while and tried to think of what to do to get out of this situation. She knew she had angered Elijah and worried he might snap at her if she pushed him too far. It was in her best interest to try and remain calm. His now familiar voice sounded through the water.

"Kristin, come on over. It's time to show off your skills." She reluctantly turned towards the window, noticing the VidScreen was on. She swam over, not wanting to give Elijah any more reason to threaten her or the crew. She noticed he was addressing two men who were wearing some sort of military uniforms but she couldn't make out what confederation they were from.

"I assure you, my invention is _very_ real, gentlemen. Everything I've been telling you is true. See for yourself." He waved towards Kristin to the shock of the men who were on the screen.

One of them spoke up. "That's _amazing_. And you say this is a _crystal_ that's doing this? She doesn't have gills?"

"No. I think it's pretty clear she doesn't have gills."

The other man chimed in. "And she's not using a tank. But how long does it last?"

"Right now I've been able to make it last from four to six hours in shallow water, give or take...much, much longer than the one hour of an average scuba tank. Of course it depends on individual air consumption rate and depth...I haven't quite tested it to that extent. But I'm sure if I have the right incentives and the right laboratory setup, I can work to make it last longer."

"Can she see us? How is she able to keep her eyes open?"

"Yes, that's part of the deal. I've also developed lenses that protect from the effects of salt water. They work very much like fish eyes."

"Mr. Woodward, what is your price for this?"

"Oh, I leave that up to you and your colleagues. Surely you can imagine that something like this is worth quite a bit. And of course, it isn't exactly cleared by any agencies, but then again, that is why I called _you_. You seem to have the right connections and I was assured you would offer the best price and keep this strictly between us."

"Yes, of course. But I _have_ to ask, why the tail? It seems unnecessary, although I'm not complaining...she does make for a rather _attractive_ package."

"I agree with you on that, but I'm afraid _she_ doesn't come with the package. She stays with me. The tail, however, is commercial. And I do believe it is optimal for maneuvering through the water. I find that in order to totally immerse yourself and move swiftly in the ocean you have to adapt and swim like a fish. You can't argue with natural selection. Normal human legs, even with fins, just aren't as effective underwater."

"So you're saying we can have armies of _merpeople_?" The man on the left seemed skeptical.

"Call it what you will but there is a very real advantage to this technology. And your confederation could be the only ones with access _if_ the price is right. You understand if I'm not happy with what you offer me, I _will_ go to someone else. I am giving you an amazing opportunity. If you don't take it, then I'm afraid I can't be held responsible for who else does."

"Well, we have to discuss this with our people and crunch some numbers before we can get back to you. We'll need some time."

"Yes, of course. You have two hours before I call you back, but it will be from a different number and location. I can't be traced. You get one chance. After that, all bets are off as to who I contact next."

"Alright. Woodward, if this _is_ what you say it is, and we can see it seems to be so, you are about to become a _very_ wealthy man."

The men cut the transmission. Elijah turned around to Kristin, his eyes beaming.

"Excellent work, dear. You _see_? It's only a matter of time before we are set for life. It's all coming together beautifully. And once we have an offer in hand, we can _finally_ be happy together. Do you prefer we move to Maui? Or perhaps Fiji? Why don't you swim around and think about it while you still have a little more air left. I have to get things set up for our departure. I'm afraid we will have to say goodbye to this place once we leave. It's a shame. We had so many wonderful memories. But we can't very well leave a trail behind us."

He walked over to the corner of the room and Kristin could see him uncovering the contents that were under a tarp on the table. She noticed him handing a few pieces to his men and they walked off into the corridors. He started hooking up some cables and wires and Kristin wondered if it was too late for the SeaQuest to find her if they were going to move. She swam towards a nearby rock and tried to distract herself by watching the school of small fish that were weaving in and out of the cage with ease.

She noticed the lights in the cage become brighter as the sun was setting. This scared the school of fish away and she followed them out in the open ocean. A flicker of light appeared in the distance. _Nathan._ Just then she saw a dolphin swimming nearby. _It has to be Darwin_ , she thought. She swam towards the edge of the cage and reached her hand through one of the small openings. He swam right up to her curiously and put his nose in her hand for a pet. She looked back and was grateful that Elijah had his back facing the window as he was too busy with whatever was on the table. She reached her arm back in and willed Darwin to go back to the ship, nodding her head and making a quick motion with her hands the way she had seen Nathan do before. Darwin seemed to understand and swam away, leaving Kristin to hope that this would all be over soon..

 **On SeaQuest, in Kristin's room:**

Nathan, Crocker, and Lucas were in Kristin's room examining what they could now see was a series of explosives hidden inside external hard drive cases that were all hooked up to a central one. Lucas spoke up.

"I'm pretty sure this is the main component but I can't see a timer or anything. Only thing I can figure is that this chip controls it wirelessly and I think if we somehow get rid of it we should be able to prevent it from exploding."

Crocker spoke up. "Cap, Lucas is right. I've seen something like this before. This is an amateur. The bomb is connected to a remote trigger and all you have to do is disable the chip."

Nathan looked at him in shock, leading him to continue. "Look, I picked up a few things in my previous line of work. Some hippie activists planted a homemade bomb on our ship to protest the military in the area. I saw them disarm it with my own two eyes. All it took was our bomb guy to find the wireless chip connected to the main computer and cut the wire. I'm pretty sure if we cut the yellow wire from _that_ chip right there, the bomb is useless." He pointed to a small rectangular computer chip that had a wire connected into the computer and had a flashing red light.

Nathan nodded, gratefully. "How sure are you? Enough to take a chance?"

He motioned towards the main component as Crocker took a deep breath. "I mean, do we have a choice? You want to wait on hold for the bomb squad to answer and confirm? This thing could go off at any second. I'd bet my life that if we cut that wire this thing will be disarmed."

"You're betting on _all_ our lives, Chief. But _do_ it." He was hesitant but he trusted his friend, especially given their circumstances.

Lucas spoke up hesitantly. "Captain, I'm gonna go ahead and be outside the door...you know...just in case." He slowly stepped away as he saw Crocker lean in and Nathan nodded understandingly, stepping away a bit himself in case anything went wrong.

Crocker reached in his pocket for a _Swiss Army_ knifeand opened the scissors. He placed the scissors around the wire and they all closed their eyes as he slammed the scissors shut, snapping the wire in two pieces.

The silence in the room was palpable and Crocker opened his eyes slowly to see that the red light had stopped flashing. They all breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"Nice work, Chief." He patted his friend on the back as his PAL chirped.

"Bridger here."

"Captain, we're in the vicinity of the Observatory. We stopped far enough away so we won't be spotted. Darwin is here on the Bridge. He says he found _Doctor_ _Kristin with tail._ "

Nathan let out a grateful sigh. "Thanks. I'm getting on the launch right now. Have Krieg meet me there to pilot."

"Aye, sir."

He addressed Crocker. "Chief, I'm gonna need you and some of your security team to come with me. I doubt Woodward is alone and unarmed."

"Yeah, Cap. Let's go."

They took off out of the room towards the Launch Bay. Lucas yelled out after him. "Captain, bring her back safely." Nathan turned around real quick and answered as he kept moving.

"I plan to, Lucas. Thanks for all your help."

 **A/N: I obviously have no clue how bombs work, but for the purposes of this story, that's how you disable a remote detonator. And I understand the SeaQuest would probably call for a bomb squad for advice, but given the time constraints and the secretive circumstances, I figured they would trust Crocker on this. Plus, I wanted to give him something important to do. It's not totally unbelievable, is it?**

 **Also, I know this is a bit of an older fandom and it seems there aren't as many people on here as there used to be, so please take the time to leave a quick note or review or a PM if you are still reading and feel free to let me know what you think either way. I genuinely enjoy receiving any and all notifications about my stories. Thanks!**


	7. Chapter 7

**On the SeaQuest:**

 **At the Lockhart Underwater Observatory:**

It had been a while since Darwin left and Kristin wondered just how much longer it would be before they showed up. She was shaken out of her thoughts by the sound of her name.

"Kristin. Come on up. We're ready to leave."

 _Please, Nathan. Hurry,_ she thought as she swam back up to the surface. She didn't know if she could stall them any longer but she would try as hard as she could to buy the _SeaQuest_ more time. The men grabbed her arms and propped her up on the ledge as she started coughing up water and adjusting to the air again. She noticed Elijah was getting close enough to start unlocking her weight belt when she spoke up.

"Wait, Elijah." She put her hand on his arm before he could reach for the key around his neck. _Here goes nothing,_ she thought.

"You know, I've been thinking a lot about what you've said and ..." She paused, not knowing if she could continue, but she had to try. She glanced at the other men in the room. "I'm sorry, can you ask them to leave? I really just want to talk to _you. Alone._ Please." She suggestively rubbed his arm.

He looked at her suspiciously but nodded in agreement as he addressed his men.

"You guys go on ahead give us some privacy. Go get the launch started. We'll be there soon. But the lady and I have to _talk_ first." He raised his eyebrows as the men walked out, leaving them alone. He turned back to Kristin.

"Go on."

"Well, I mean, this really _is_ the most amazing experience I've ever had. I feel like maybe I've taken you for granted. All that you've done. It's remarkable. And for _me_? No one's ever done something quite so...romantic for me before. I mean, Fiji _does_ sound nice and...I would _love_ to do this again in the open ocean...perhaps you and I can start over." She hoped she was being convincing enough to play into his little fantasy.

He seemed skeptical about her sudden change of heart, but his desire to hear her say those words made him ignore his doubts.

"I _knew_ you would eventually see things my way. Kris, we are going to be so happy. You'll see." He caressed her cheek lovingly, much to her disgust.

"Yes. Maybe we will. Perhaps I just needed you to remind me that I cared for you. We _did_ have some lovely memories here, didn't we? What do you say you climb in here with me and we make one final memory before we leave? Don't you _enjoy_ seeing me like this?" She moved her tail up and down enticingly.

The look of pure lust in his eyes reassured her that she was getting through to him. "Kristin, you have _no_ idea how much I want to, but we need to..."

She didn't let him finish as she leaned in to kiss him, her hand slowly cupping his cheek as she tried her best to charm him. When she pulled away with a smile, he seemed in a trance.

"I suppose it would be nice to have _one_ last happy memory here." He eagerly removed his shoes and climbed into the pool, not caring that his pants got wet as he leaned in for another kiss, his arms slowly grasping at her shoulders and down her arms, as she propped herself up and leaned into the back of the ledge. Elijah took a pause before he continued kissing her. "I've been dreaming about this for so long, Kris." His right hand tentatively reached up to start cupping her breast through the bikini top, causing her to hold back her need to pull away. She was relieved when she heard a voice from behind them at the entrance.

"Kristin!" Nathan walked in, followed by Crocker and several other security guards with guns drawn.

"Oh thank God. Nathan!" She tried pushing Elijah off but he instinctively grabbed her as he stared at the new intruders in confusion.

"What the..."

"It's over, Elijah. Let her go. We have your men in custody on our launch...and we found Dr. Lockhart in the laboratory."

Elijah crouched behind Kristin and kept a tight hold on her shoulders, using her as a shield.

"Captain, I would advise you to leave us alone. I have a rather nasty surprise on your ship and I will not hesitate to blow it up if you get in my way."

Nathan smirked, knowingly. "I'm afraid your insurance policy has been cancelled. We found your little bomb and disabled the remote detonator. You've got nothing, Woodward. Give up _now_."

Elijah looked annoyed and frustrated, his thoughts rushing as he processed what was happening.

"No...I _will not_ go to jail. I can't. Not after everything I've accomplished...everything I planned." He seemed to be growing desperate and Nathan worried what he would do, but there was no way anyone could shoot without the possibility of hitting Kristin.

Elijah looked at them decisively. "If this is where it ends, it's going to end with me and Kristin _together._ I'd rather die with her than rot in a prison cell." He reached in his pocket and pulled out a remote control. He pushed the button and threw it on the floor. A loud beeping resonated in the room.

"This whole place will be nothing but rubble any minute now. And Kristin and I _will_ be together forever, as we were meant to be."

Kristin worriedly shouted out. " _Run_ , Nathan! Go!" She tried to break free from Elijah but he matched her struggle and they slipped into the water, Elijah holding on to Kristin's arms as the weight of the tail dragged them down.

Nathan tried to make a run towards the pool, but Crocker grabbed his arm.

"Cap, we gotta get out of here!"

"Gator, I can't leave her."

"You know as well as I do that there's no time! This whole place is gonna blow! Come on! Cap, if _we all_ die here, she has no chance."

Nathan couldn't bring himself to accept the reality of the situation, but he knew Crocker was being reasonable. He allowed himself to run back towards the launch with the others where Krieg was waiting in the cockpit.

"Go, Krieg, Go!" Nathan pushed the button to seal the docking collar and they all held on to the bars on the wall.

As the launch pulled away, they all tensed at the expectation that something could happen at any moment. After about twenty seconds they heard and felt the tremendous explosion that rocked the launch as everyone held on as tightly as they could.

Once things calmed down slightly, Nathan leaned back against the wall, letting himself slide to the floor in surrender and wondering if he could live with the possibility that he might have just lost her forever.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

 **On the Bridge:**

Commander Ford had felt the shockwave of the explosion which had cause the ship to slightly rock as everyone braced themselves. He was confused at to what caused it.

"Ortiz, what just happened?"

"Commander the whole place...it just...blew up." He stared at his screen in shock.

"What?!" He was shocked and worried that maybe they didn't make it out in time.

O'Neill chimed in. "Sir, I've just gotten a call from MR-5 requesting permission to dock."

Ford sighed in relief. They made it after all. O'Neill continued sadly. "Sir, Lt. Krieg says they don't have Dr. Westphalen. She was still in the water when the explosion happened."

"Oh God."

 **At the Launch Bay:**

Lucas waited impatiently as the doors opened and Nathan walked in hurriedly.

"Captain, what happened? What _was_ that _?_ Where's the Doc?"

Nathan just ignored him, which scared Lucas as he saw his Captain running determinedly towards the Bridge and followed after him.

 **On the Bridge:**

Nathan ran through the open clamshell doors and tried to keep his emotions in check as he took command of the situation as best as he could. Lucas trailed behind him and watched the scene unfold.

"Ortiz, put the WSKRS view on forward screen. And put them on high beams so we can see what's going on."

"Aye, Captain." He punched a few keys. Everyone in the room felt sick to their stomachs, not wanting to ask their Captain what had just happened, knowing he was probably too upset at the moment.

The screen showed a cloud of kicked up sand surrounding bent and broken metal as the structure that used to be the Observatory now lay in ruins.

"Damn." Ford couldn't imagine anyone surviving if they were in or near the building.

Nathan continued. "Hitchcock, I want you to send the probe for a closer look. We need to find Dr. Westphalen in there."

"Aye, Captain." She quickly geared up and sent the _HR probe_ on its way.

While she did that, Nathan walked over to Darwin in the moon pool.

"Darwin, I want you to go and see if you can find Doctor Kristin. Can you go back and find her? She might need your help finding her way back."

" _Darwin find Kristin. Bring back Kristin."_

"Yes. Yes, _please_ my friend. Go." He gave him an encouraging chin rub and watched him swim away, holding on to the edge of the moon pool for support as the events of the last few minutes were catching up to him. _You should have been there sooner. You should have shot Woodward. What if she didn't survive?_ He banged his hands on the edge of the moon pool in frustration and spoke up softly. "Dammit, Kristin. Not like this. I can't go through this again."

 **At the Observatory:**

Kristin coughed a bit as she felt a few bits of sand in her mouth. She didn't remember what had just happened, the force of the blow having been so intense that she was temporarily knocked unconscious. She felt an enormous weight on her and opened her eyes to see a metal beam was resting just a few inches above her head. Her left arm was trapped awkwardly underneath her and she couldn't move it. She used as much strength as she could in her free hand to lift the beam and maneuver it over and out of the way. As soon as she cleared it she looked down to stare directly into the lifeless gaze of Elijah Woodward. A stream of bubbles escaped her mouth as she tried to scream. He was pinned down on top of her tail by another broken metal beam. She tried wiggling out but the weight was too much.

She noticed her breaths were becoming shallower. _The crystal is running out._ Terror gripped her as she wondered if she was going to make it out of there. She had to get the attention of the _SeaQuest_. She picked up a rock nearby and started banging on the metal beam, hoping maybe they would hear her.

 **On the SeaQuest:**

In the middle of the tense silence, O'Neill stood up from his post.

"Captain, I'm picking up some noise coming from the debris. It sounds like banging on metal."

A look of cautious optimism came over Nathan's face. "Kristin." He turned to Hitchcock. "Follow that noise! She's alive! I _know_ it. And put the probe camera on forward screen."

Hitchcock maneuvered the probe towards it and they all cheered and clapped as the screen revealed a bruised and bloodied, but very much alive, Kristin being trapped under the weight of a metal beam.

Relief filled the Bridge and Nathan released a sigh as he fell into his chair and gave the next command. "Get that beam off of her."

"Aye, Cap." Hitchcock smiled, happy that she was able to help save her friend.

 **In the water:**

Kristin felt a huge relief and stopped banging when she saw the _HR probe_ approach and start pushing the beam off of her. Slowly, she felt her arms and most of her upper body free up. She then felt her legs and tail loosen up and was finally out from under the rubble. She figured it would be faster to swim back to the ship with the tail still on than to waste time trying to fumble with the lock behind her but she grabbed the key from around Elijah's neck and put it around her own. She started swimming towards the direction of the ship.

 **On the SeaQuest:**

The entire crew was mesmerized watching the video from the WSKRS as they watched Kristin making her way through the water, all of them relieved that she was still alive and amazed as she seemed to glide like a fish. Nathan noticed she was slowing down and saw the flurry of bubbles that were coming faster and faster out of her mouth.

"She's running out of air." He tensed, realizing that she was still in danger.

At that moment, they saw Darwin swim up to her and she grabbed his dorsal fin. He helped drag her through the water much quicker.

"Alright, Darwin." Lucas cheered.

When they were just a few yards away from the entrance to the ship, Kristin seemed to stop moving as she let go of the fin and started drifting down unconscious into the depths.

"No! Kristin!" Nathan's pained cry as he quickly stood up was the only sound on the Bridge as people held their breath after what just happened. Darwin quickly turned around and dove below Kristin, catching her across his body, his dorsal fin holding her in place as she draped over him. He was slowly able to swim them both back into the outer locks.

In that same instant, Nathan darted from his chair towards SeaDeck, with most of the crew dropping their headsets and standing up to follow him as they sensed the urgency of the situation.


	9. Chapter 9

**On SeaDeck:**

Nathan wasn't sure how he got there so quickly, but he made it to SeaDeck to find Darwin popping up to the surface of the Moon Pool with Kristin in tow. Without thinking, he jumped immediately into the water and waded towards them, grabbing Kristin and turning her over to bring her head above the surface while quickly walking her back to the edge. He panicked when he felt how cold she was and saw that she wasn't breathing. He saw many of his crew members running through the door.

"Help me get her out!" Nathan cried out as Crocker jumped into the water with him and Ford, Ortiz and O'Neill reached out from over the edge to support her upper body as they all gently slid her out of the water and onto the floor.

Nathan jumped back out and started doing chest compressions, only stopping to press his lips to her ice cold ones as he tried to breathe life back into her.

"Come on, Kristin." He pressed even harder on the next set of compressions and gave her another breath. Everyone watched nervously as they waited for a sign that she would be alright while Nathan continued administering CPR. Suddenly, she started coughing up water so he twisted her on her side to let it drain out as she braced herself on her arms to face the floor and took in deep breaths. Everyone let out a huge sigh of relief and smiled.

"Oh thank God!" He held back the tears of joy that threatened to fall as he reassured himself that she was alive. Levin showed up almost instantly with an oxygen mask that he placed over her face as a few other nurses started checking her vital signs.

"Captain, let us take over from here."

Nathan nodded and leaned back to sit on his legs but noticed that Kristin was shaking her head.

"Wait." She coughed a bit as she brushed the mask off and reached for the key around her neck, holding it out to Nathan.

"Get this damned tail _off_ of me." She sounded upset and tired but she stopped fighting Levin, allowing him to place the mask back over her face. Nathan smiled slightly, glad to hear her acting like her old self. He quickly grabbed the key from her and undid the lock. They gently removed the tail, noticing that Kristin was wincing in pain at the movements and her whole body was covered in nasty bruises. When it was completely off, they carefully rolled her back onto a gurney that one of the nurses had placed next to her. She let out an exhausted sigh and closed her eyes.

"We've got to get her temperature up. Let's take her to MedBay. Now!"

Nathan watched as the med team rolled her into one of the rooms in MedBay and hooked her up to all sorts of machinery, covered her in heated blankets and placed an IV of warm saline and antibiotics in her arm. Levin turned to the crowd that had formed just outside the door.

"Guys, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you not to crowd around and let us do our jobs."

Lucas spoke up. "Is she going to be okay?"

"To be honest, I don't have an answer yet. I can't know for certain what the effects are of whatever this crystal was that allowed her to breathe underwater. But I _do_ know that her core temperature is really low and we'll have to monitor for signs of hypothermia and possible pneumonia. She also sustained quite a bit of bruising and likely has some internal injuries. That's as much as I can tell you as of this moment."

Nathan nodded in understanding. "Alright Levin, please keep us informed about her condition. Any changes at all, you let me know." He turned to the rest of the crew. "As for the rest of you, I know you're all worried but right now she's in good hands and there is nothing else we can do for her. We _must_ , however, get back to our stations. I'm afraid we have some cleaning up to do from the wreckage and I have to report to Admiral Noyce and let him know what's happened to the Observatory."

They reluctantly nodded and started walking back to the Bridge. Lucas leaned into the Captain.

"You might want to change before you call Noyce, sir." He smiled and gave pat him on the back, much to Nathan's amusement as he watched Lucas walk off with the rest of the crew. He took another glance at a now sleeping Kristin, holding on to an inkling of hope at the fact that there was a steady heartbeat on the monitor.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Nathan looked at his watch for what seemed like the three-hundredth time, having tried to keep himself distracted ever since leaving MedBay. It had been almost fourteen hours. To be honest, he wasn't certain what time it was when he actually fell asleep last night. When he stopped by that morning to see how Kristin was doing before reporting for duty she was still sleeping. He recalled Levin's words. _Her core temperature is finally back to normal_ , b _ut she has a few cracked ribs, some water in her lungs, and some very nasty bruises. Really, she just needs to rest._

Nathan was deep in his thoughts. _You could have lost her._ He subconsciously combed his fingers through his hair and scratched the back of his head. His PAL unit chirped and he answered it quickly.

"Bridger here."

"Captain, I thought I should let you know Dr. Westphalen is waking up."

His heart leaped with joy. "I'll be right there." He looked over at Commander Ford. "Commander, you have the helm."

"Aye, Cap." He smiled, knowing the Captain had been waiting for that call from Levin ever since their shift started.

Nathan walked briskly towards MedBay, trying not to crash into anyone or anything as he made his way through the halls and towards his destination. He walked into MedBay and looked around but couldn't see Kristin.

"How is she, Joshua?"

"Hard to tell, sir. She seems to be hanging in there. No signs of pneumonia or secondary infections.I managed to remove the remnants of the crystal she had in her throat and she had some strange contact lenses on. We'll have to take a closer look at all of it. She's also hyperchloremic."

"What does that mean?"

"He has unusually high amounts of sodium and chloride ions in her blood. I've put her on a sodium bicarbonate IV infusion."

"What does _that_ do, Joshua?"

"It'll hopefully help her kidneys flush out the extra chloride ions. Right now, she's very weak and dehydrated. But she should be okay once we stabilize the electrolyte levels and she gets plenty of rest. Mostly, her ribs need time to heal."

Nathan let out of relieved breath.

"Can I see her?"

"Yeah, just keep it short. She needs to take it easy."

Nathan smiled. "Will do."

He knocked on the door and waited for her response to come in. When he opened the door he saw her on the bed, staring blankly at one of the monitors nearby. The moment he walked in, she turned swiftly to meet his gaze and smiled. "Hello, Nathan."

"Kris..." He didn't hesitate to walk towards her, grab her hands in his and sit down in the chair next to her bed. "How are you feeling?" He could tell she was struggling to hold back tears, no matter how hard she tried to keep the smile going.

She nodded her head. "I'm fine. Maybe a bit sore around my ribs...but...I can manage. I've been thinking. I can't fully explain how it all works but I have some idea. Joshua managed to take out what was left of the crystal and if I just can figure out its molecular structure I could maybe recreate it. I think Elijah found a way to break down the hydrogen from the water molecules and have the crystal filter pure oxygen...I think the sodium and chloride ions get absorbed into the bloodstream somehow by binding to one of the crystal's ions but I'm not sure what those are...it would explain my fatigue and dehydration. I'll have to correct for that somehow to minimize the side effects of hyperchloremia but if I could just..."

Nathan noticed her ranting, realizing that she was focusing on the science instead of dealing with what happened and facing her emotions. He quickly interrupted her. "Kristin, as amazing as all that is, you will have plenty of time to study this in the future..look, I know you're just putting on a brave front right now but you don't have to. The only thing you need to do is focus on getting better. I mean..you were _kidnapped_ , for God's sake. You were forced to breathe underwater...an entire building exploded around you, almost crushing you to death...and you essentially drowned trying to get back to us. Hell, I'm amazed to see you breathing right now in front of me." There was genuine concern in his voice.

She stared at him knowingly, trying to maintain her composure, but it was no use as the tears threatened to pour out. She allowed herself to let out an accepting sigh and could barely find the strength to whisper his name. "Nathan." As if sensing her floodgates were about to open, he leaned in to wrap her in a gentle hug, noticing her wincing slightly in pain and releasing her a bit to make sure she was comfortable. She started sobbing softly into his shoulder as he tried to comfort her as best as he could.

"It's all right, Kristin. You're going to be okay."

"Yeah...thanks to you." She pulled her head back from his shoulder. "Sorry, I've gotten you drenched." She let out an embarrassed giggle, wiping away at the tear drops that now adorned the SeaQuest logo on his uniform.

"That's alright. It's not as bad as my last uniform. I'm still drying that one out from jumping in the moon pool." He chuckled trying to ease the tension, but felt he made it more awkward so he cleared his throat and continued. "Kristin, you have no idea how happy I am to see you back here, but you know as well as I do that you need to rest right now."

Kristin let out a sigh and leaned her head back on the pillow. "You're right. I'm not a very good patient, but even _I_ can admit I need some time to deal with all this." She paused and looked away, not wanting to face the truth. "I was _so scared_ , Nathan. I truly thought that he was going to hide me away forever and I would never see anyone again. I resigned myself to the idea that I was going to be his... his _plaything_." She looked back at his face. "I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't found me."

He held her hands in his. "Everyone helped to track you down. It took a bit of time, but we figured it out eventually. I just wish it had been sooner."

"Yeah, me too." She smiled sarcastically, trying to make light of the situation. "I just...I don't know what would have led Elijah to do something like this."

"Well, according to Lucas, this guy had a major crush on you for years."

"Yes, he was always a bit strange...but...I wonder where he got the funding for his research. It doesn't strike me that he was working on this alone. Or how he got those two men to help him out."

"Well, those men are in UEO custody so we will find out all we can about it. Don.t you worry about that."

Kristin nodded. "I just...I never thought he would stoop so low as to _murder_ people." She thought for a moment and let out another sigh. "I can't believe he _actually_ thought this little invention would win me over somehow. He was parading me in front of some men trying to get them to make him an offer for the technology. I felt so... _cheap._ " She lowered her head down shamefully. "I played along just to buy you some time, but deep down I had no idea what to do. And the moment he set off the bomb, I thought for sure that was it." She looked into back up at him. "I expected to die in that place."

The look in her eyes broke his heart and he tightened his grip on her hands reassuringly. "Kristin, I can't begin to imagine what it must have felt like for you, but I can tell you everyone on this boat was doing their _damnedest_ to try and find you. Krieg searched through pages upon pages of inventory lists for those stupid tails, Katie called every underwater lab known within hundreds of miles, Lucas was finding everything he could about this bastard online, which is actually very limited in the last few years. Every last one of us was working to get to you as quickly as possible. Between your being kidnapped, then thinking you had blown up in the explosion...and then seeing you swimming towards the ship and watching you take what I thought was your last breath..." Nathan stopped, shaking his head at the memories. "I don't want to ever feel that way again. I thought I'd lost you." He cleared his throat, surprised by his own admission.

Kristin shut her eyes, silently reliving the events and taking a deep breath.

"Nathan, would you mind telling me how I made it back to the ship? I don't remember much."

Nathan noticed she wanted to avoid any more talk of Woodward. He struggled a bit to get the words out. "Well, you appeared to have run out of air just as you were almost here and Darwin managed to catch you on his back and carry you through the doors and to the moon pool. I jumped in and everyone helped to carry you out of the water." He took a deep breath as he remembered. "I don't think I've ever been so scared, but eventually my instincts kicked in and I performed CPR until you coughed up the water and Levin took over. You were so pale and _cold_ , Kris..."

Kristin quietly absorbed the information but he could tell she was holding back tears. Nathan thought it best to change the subject, as he was having trouble concentrating as well.

"You know, Lucas has been asking nonstop about you. You should've seen him. He was right behind me running through the halls when we saw that Darwin was bringing you in. In fact, the whole crew was right there when Joshua took you into Medbay. I wouldn't be surprised if they are all lining up to see you as we speak. You should get ready."

She gave a weak smile. She looked into his eyes, reality setting in. "Thank you for bringing me back to life."

He reached a hand on her cheek and gently rubbed it with his thumb. "I should be thanking _you_ for the same thing." He leaned in a bit closer, both of them catching their breath, anticipating what was about to happen. Their lips barely brushed in a featherlight kiss when there was a loud knock at the door. Nathan abruptly pulled back, looking at the entrance as Lucas opened the door and stuck his head in.

"Doc! You're awake!"

"Yes and _you_ , young man, should learn to _wait_ until someone answers before you open the door.." Kristin mockingly scorned Lucas, but let out a big smile and held out her arms when she noticed the look on his face. "Oh come here, sweetheart."

He ran towards her and wrapped her in a firm but gentle hug. She could see Nathan over Lucas' shoulder and he gave her a smile and a wink, both knowing they had much more to talk about.

Nathan stopped at the door and looked back. "I'd better be getting back to the Bridge. I'm sure everyone will be glad to hear you're awake.."

"Thanks for stopping by, Captain." She tried to keep her composure as Lucas released her from his grasp.

"Just be sure to get some rest. Lucas, don't disturb her for too long." Nathan walked out of the room, but glanced back before he closed the door to see Kristin smiling and chatting with Lucas. As he walked out of Medbay he ran into Lt. Commander Hitchcock walking briskly the other way, followed by Lt. Krieg and Chief Crocker. Katie spoke up first.

"Is it true, sir? She's awake?"

"Yes, Lucas is in there with her right now. She's going to be fine. Go on. But try not to overwhelm her. She still needs her rest. If Levin kicks you out, you listen."

They all smiled, their faces relieved. "Yes, sir."

 _ **Meanwhile in another unidentified location...**_

The hum of computers and various large machines filled the air in the dark laboratory. A tall, lanky man walked inside to find another man in a lab coat hunched over a microscope on a singular table in the middle of the room. He approached hesitantly.

"Sir. I have some news."

The man slowly lifted his head from the scope. "Good or bad?"

"Um..."

"Just let it out, Samuels." The man's deep, tired voice showed he knew the news was not good and Samuels took a deep gulp before continuing.

"Well, we finally tracked down Woodward...unfortunately, it seems he's caused a bit of trouble."

" _Trouble_? Define trouble." The larger man was already losing patience and getting a bit angry.

"He deleted the files and stole our prototypes for the undercover _Breathers_ project and tried to sell it to an unknown confederation."

" _What?!"_ The man slammed his fist on the table in anger. "What about the others who were working on the project with him?"

"They weren't expected to come to work this weekend. My men just found them dead in their homes not long ago."

The man let out a frustrated sigh. "So we don't have any records or personnel from the _Breathers_ project?"

"No, sir. I'm afraid everything is gone." Samuels cleared his throat, knowing there was more to say. "It seems he was planning this for a while. Nobody on our side knew about it until it was too late. He even managed to somehow blow up the Lockhart Underwater Observatory in the process."

He pulled out a portable vidlink and played the call between Woodward and two unidentifiable men showing off a woman breathing underwater dressed as a mermaid and talking about selling the technology.

The anger seethed on the large man's face as he watched what was going on. "So...Woodward tried to sell what is technically _my_ product?! And are those Johnson and Richards _helping_ him?"

"He bribed them. Johnson actually contacted us. He realized that Woodward was out of control and decided to send us some information in the hopes of stopping him. He was the one who submitted the videos, but by the time we received them, the Observatory was already in pieces."

"The little _cheat_! I'm going to make Woodward _pay_ for this."

"Actually, Woodward is dead, sir."

"Damn! Lucky for _him_. He suffered a fate far better than what I would have had in store for him." He let out an angry sigh. "What about Johnson and Richards?"

"They are under UEO custody."

"Make sure they don't talk."

"Yes sir. Our guys in the UEO are already on it." The mercenary nodded, knowingly.

"Do we know who Woodward was talking to?"

"Not yet, sir. But we have a few people working right now to identify the two men in the video. They are going through our contacts in the black markets."

"And what about the _woman_? Who is she? Is she dead too?"

"No, sir. Woodward apparently knew her from his younger days. Seems he kidnapped her and was holding her against her will. Johnson mentioned he was obsessed with her. Her name is Kristin Westphalen. She's the chief medical doctor and the head scientist aboard the _SeaQuest_."

Samuels handed him a file folder with photos and some papers to browse as he continued. "We have more videos for you to take a look at. Apparently he called the Captain of the _SeaQuest_ to gloat after he somehow kidnapped her off the ship."

The large man focused on the papers in front of him. "So...the esteemed Captain and crew of the SeaQuest is aware of the existence of the crystals?"

"Yes, sir."

"And it seems this Westphalen woman will no doubt have remnants of one of them. There is hope for us yet. Tell me, Samuels...do you think Woodward might have mentioned us to her or the _SeaQuest_?"

"No sir. Based on the communications and what Johnson reported briefly he seemed to be acting on his own and taking the credit, but...she is a witness, sir. As are most of the _SeaQuest_ crew. And the UEO will no doubt investigate."

"But there is no trace of Woodward leading back here, correct?"

"No. We checked and made sure of that before the project started."

"Then I want you to _double_ check. Make sure all tracks are clear. I don't want the UEO sniffing around here."

The man pondered the file in his hand for a bit before a wicked smile broke through. "So...she's a doctor _and_ a scientist? Impressive resumé indeed. And she knows about and has first-hand experience with the crystal. Dare I say she is not bad to look at either. Hmmm...you know, we seem to have a recent opening for a scientist on our team. We'll need someone to recover our work." He ruminated out loud and smiled knowingly. "Perhaps we should make the lovely doctor an offer she can't refuse."

 **A/N: So I decided to extend this story after all. I hope I haven't lost many readers. I know it's been a while. But I am encouraged by other authors posting in our small and humble Fandom and I love hearing your feedback. So please read and review and let me know that you are still following along and enjoy what I'm doing. I get pretty busy but my muse never sleeps. Just takes a while to sit down and put it all in writing. :) Thanks for sticking with me.**


End file.
